Saying Goodbye is Never Easy

Sadly, yesterday we had to bid a sad farewell to Zippy, our beloved guppy.

He was more than just a fish to us.

Tony will miss how he was always swimming around in his tank, how colorful he was for a guppy, his jumping up, and Tony always trying to catch him to clean the tank.

I will miss this little creature for (silly as it may sound) his continual presence, daily morning hello and nightly welcome, upon my returning home, with his tank light. He actually used to swim up to the top of the tank to greet me as I would drop his food in each morning. Most surely, I will miss how he truly lived up to his name. He would zip up to the top of the tank from the bottom as if he was playing at times.

And from his original owner ~ Zippy was a good little guppy. He must've been 4 yrs old. Fernando got to witness his birth. After 2 wks old he came home to live with us. He had 1 sister and 1 brother. They were so small you had to squint and look real, real hard to see them. Zippy was the larger of the three. And right from the start he wasn't very nice to his siblings. He made sure he got to eat first. He got to chose his "spot" first and wouldn't let anyone else invade his space. It was so hard to clean their bowl when they were so small and almost invisible. I was certain I had accidentally flushed them down the drain. But then Zippy decided to get rid of his siblings, he wanted the fish bowl all to himself. It was a lot of fun watching Zippy grow up and get some color. He was a real enjoyment. Every morning feeding him and watching him swim around was a nice ritual. But then it was time to have Zippy move on and bring others enjoyment. I'm glad he spent his last years in a nice home with those that loved him. Something about a fish that makes you smile. Even tho Zippy wasn't always the nicest little guppy he still brought out the smiles. Goodbye Zippy, you were a good little guppy.

I am reminded of the time years ago when Greta and Carol were little and we had 2 gerbils. Along the lines of 'survivor', the stronger one decided to "get rid" of the weaker one. AAK! Greta was devasted, asking us to bury him in a box in the back yard, all of this in the midst of a raging thunderstorm! And our backyard was no more than 3 feet from a very full brook! Grets, remember the CROOKED HOUSE? So we put the gerbil into a box and trundled out in the rain and thunder and buried the little creature. It was the least I could do. It took me a while to 'forgive' the remaing gerbil.

Oh.. and then the time that one of our cats was hit by a car. Poor Greta again. As we were retreiving our kitty and walking back across the street to our property to bury it in the yard, (remember this Greta?) somebody STOLE the shovel we had left by the side of the road! Insult upon injury!

Life... hmmm

Farewell Zippy... I missed you this morning.